Introduction to HTML

HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It is a markup language that is used to structure content on the web. HTML consists of a series of elements, which you can use to enclose, or mark up, different parts of the content to give it meaning and structure. For example, you can use HTML elements to define headings, paragraphs, lists, links, and more.

HTML documents are made up of a series of elements nested inside one another, and are usually saved with a .html or .htm file extension. When a web browser loads an HTML document, it reads the document and converts the marked-up content into a web page that can be displayed to the user.

Here is a simple HTML document that includes some common HTML tags:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
  <title>My HTML Document</title>
</head>

<body>
  <h1>Welcome to my HTML document</h1>
  <p>This is a simple HTML document with a few basic tags.</p>
  <ul>
    <li>DOCTYPE</li>
    <li>html</li>
    <li>head</li>
    <li>title</li>
    <li>body</li>
    <li>h1</li>
    <li>p</li>
    <li>ul</li>
    <li>li</li>
  </ul>
</body>

</html>

Here is an explanation of each of the HTML tags used in the example:

  • <!DOCTYPE html> : This tag tells the web browser that the document is an HTML5 document.
  • <html> : This is the root element of an HTML document. It encloses all of the other HTML elements on the page.
  • <head> : The head element contains information about the document, such as the title and any CSS or JavaScript files that are linked to the page.
  • <title> : The title element defines the title of the document, which is displayed in the title bar of the web browser.
  • <body> : The body element contains all of the content that is displayed on the web page.
  • <h1> : The h1 element defines a level 1 heading. There are also h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6 elements for defining headings of different levels.
  • <p> : The p element defines a paragraph of text.
  • <ul> : The ul element defines an unordered list, which is a list of items that are displayed with bullet points.
  • <li> : The li element defines a list item within an unordered list.

What is an HTML Element?

An HTML element is a piece of HTML code that represents a part of a web page. It typically consists of a start tag and an end tag, with content in between. The content could be text, other HTML elements, or a combination of both. The start tag and end tag are delimited by angle brackets, and the element's name appears between the start and end tags. For example:

<p>This is a paragraph element.</p>

In this example, p is the element's name, and everything between the start tag <p> and the end tag </p> is the element's content. The element's content is a piece of text in this case, but it could also be other HTML elements.

How do web browsers display HTML?

Web browsers are designed to read HTML documents and display them as web pages. When you enter a URL into your web browser and hit enter, your browser sends a request to the server for the webpage you specified. The server responds by sending the HTML document for that webpage to your browser.

The browser then reads the HTML document and begins to build a model of the page in memory, based on the tags and content in the document. As it reads the document, the browser identifies the different elements in the HTML code and determines how to display them on the page.

For example, if the HTML document includes a paragraph element, the browser will create a paragraph object in its memory and assign the element's content to that object. If the HTML document includes an image element, the browser will create an image object and assign the element's attributes (such as the source file for the image) to that object.

Once the browser has finished building the model of the page, it renders the page on the screen, using the objects in its memory to determine what to display and how to style it. The browser continues to update the display as it reads the rest of the HTML document, and it responds to user input (such as clicks or scrolls) by updating the model and the display as needed.

Some history about HTML

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a markup language used to structure and format content on the web. It was first developed in the late 1980s by Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, while he was working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

At the time, CERN was home to a large number of researchers who needed a way to share information and collaborate on projects. Berners-Lee developed HTML as a way to create and structure documents that could be accessed over the internet, using a system he called the "World Wide Web."

Initially, HTML was relatively simple, consisting of just a few basic tags for formatting text and creating hyperlinks. Over time, it has evolved to become more complex and powerful, with the introduction of new elements and features for formatting and structuring content in more sophisticated ways.

Today, HTML is the standard markup language for creating web pages, and it is used by millions of websites around the world. It is constantly being updated and improved, with new versions released periodically to incorporate new features and capabilities.

HTML Basics